


After A Good Dinner One Can Forgive Anybody

by skinnytiesandbluescarves (marveyllous)



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Restaurant!AU, chef!Mike, restaurant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-18 16:40:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4712972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marveyllous/pseuds/skinnytiesandbluescarves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for Marvey Fic Challenges <a href="http://marveyficchallenges.tumblr.com/post/128096599505/challenge-36-kitchen-nightmares">prompt #36</a> - "Kitchen nightmares".</p><p>Restaurant!au in which Mike is a chef. One disaster and two movie quotes later, fluff ensues!</p>
            </blockquote>





	After A Good Dinner One Can Forgive Anybody

Harvey buttons up his last button on his navy blue Henley, and gels the final few strands of his hair. It’s perfect, not a single strand out of place. He’s in a particularly good mood this evening, because not only is it his first night off since well before he can remember, he’s also finally decided on a promising new hire today, and he’s been interviewing for weeks. God, is he glad that’s out of the way. Donna’s agreed to manage Specter’s Steak for the night, so he could have the evening off. He’s meeting with Marcus and his new girlfriend, Clarissa, tonight. They’ve been dating for over a year now and Marcus has been bugging him to meet her for months, so he’s glad to finally have the time off to do so.

Ray pulls up in front of his brother’s condo, and he heads up the elevator and knocks on the door. Marcus opens it with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Harvey, ol’ bro! Long time no see!” He wraps Harvey in a bear-tight hug, which Harvey grudgingly returns.

“Hey, Marcus,” Harvey manages through the death-tight grip Marcus has got him in. Marcus pulls away and opens the door wider, beckoning Harvey in. “Dinner’s almost ready, you know Clarissa loves to cook.” It smells delicious as he steps further into the apartment, and Harvey’s stomach grumbles a little.

A tall, lean, brunette woman dressed in a smart blouse and ruffled skirt comes up to greet him. “Hi! You must be Harvey, it’s so nice to finally meet you,” she says, wrapping him in a hug. She quickly pulls back and gestures toward the table, “Welcome, welcome. Dinner’s ready, you boys can have a seat and I’ll serve it up in a moment!”

Harvey and Marcus take their seats at the dinner table, which Harvey admits almost rivals his. It’s beautiful oak wood and decorated with elegant striped placemats.

“So, how have things been with the restaurant lately,” Marcus asks.

“Great, actually. Business has been better than ever – I think our popularity has extended beyond just the Greater New York Area now, we’re getting diners from around the world.”

“Wow, that sounds amazing, Harvey, I’m really happy for you!”

“Yeah, thanks, and I actually finally hired a new chef this morning. I’ve been interviewing candidates for weeks, and none of them really seemed to click. I don’t even know what it was about him, he’s barely a kid and he’s so scrawny and that tie he wore to the interview this morning was obnoxiously skinny, but, the dishes he cooked were good, and he had this flair to his personality.”

Marcus just raises an eyebrow at him.

“Not that kind of flair.”

“Mmhmm. Sure, old bro.” Marcus won’t stop waggling his eyebrows.

Harvey just glares at him.

“Okay, but seriously Harvey, when was the last time you had a boyfriend? Or girlfriend? Or relationship of any type honestly other than friendship and brothership?” 

“One, brothership is not a word, and two, I don’t need a relationship, I’m perfectly happy on my own. Relationships are just too much time and I don’t have that kind of time. Plus, I’m seriously just not interested, so leave it alone, okay?” Harvey’s voice has a hint of serious anger to it.

Clarissa comes to the rescue with plates of scrumptious-looking broccoli salad, grilled potatoes and vegetables, and stuffed chicken. She sets the plates down and they all eagerly help themselves.

Harvey decides to change the topic. “So, tell me about you two.”

Clarissa and Marcus simultaneously turn to smile at each other – dare Harvey say – lovingly. Clarissa starts, “Well, as I’m sure Marcus has already told you, we met on a cruise. He was standing by the balcony looking out at the sea, and I’d been running along the path. Clumsy as I am, I tripped,” she laughed, embarrassed, “and he turned around when he heard the commotion. Helped pick me up and ensure I was okay, and… I don’t know, I guess we both felt something between us. He asked me out to dinner that night, and we’ve been dating since.”

Harvey snorts internally but smiles externally, and raises his glass in a toast, “All the best to your relationship.”

They smile and clink glasses, and just as Harvey’s about to take a sip of his wine, his phone goes off. He’s about to ignore the call when he sees that it’s from Donna, and he knows she knows where he is tonight and that she wouldn’t call him unless it was an emergency, so he apologizes, “I’m sorry, I’ll have to take this.”

Harvey picks up, “This better be an emergency, or I’m cutting off your access to my credit cards.” 

“Harvey, your new boy… shall we say, messed up big time. The kitchen is an absolute nightmare! I was just going in to check why the dishes were coming so slowly and – I’m so sorry to have to say this, but I think you really need to get here.”

Harvey groans and grits his teeth, “I’ll be there in ten,” and snaps his phone shut.

“Marcus, Clarissa, I’m really sorry but there’s an emergency at the restaurant… I really have to go.”

“At least finish your dinner!” Clarissa exclaims.

Marcus gives Harvey a look, so he obliges, trying to gobble down the food as quickly as possible while maintaining some semblance of etiquette. He finishes the chicken and gets up, “Again, I’m extremely sorry about this. I’ll definitely make it up to you two sometime. Apparently the new kid destroyed the kitchen and dishes aren’t being served, so I really have to get back to the restaurant. Dinner was absolutely delicious, thank you Clarissa! It was really nice to meet you.”

Clarissa gives Harvey a hug, “It’s okay, we understand. I look forward to seeing you again sometime soon.”

Harvey dials Ray’s number and has him drive as quickly as possible to the restaurant. He takes brisk steps toward the kitchen, a feeling of dread coming over him, and when he throws open the doors, he finds utter chaos.

It seems there was some kind of explosion. There’s flour everywhere, a mess of half-cooked food has spattered onto the walls, and one of the ovens looks completely destroyed. There’s even a pot stuck in the ceiling! Harvey looks around, unable to speak for a moment.

“What. The. Hell. Did you do?” he grits out, voice menacing.

The new kid – Mike, was his name – looks utterly despondent and terrified. He apologizes profusely, “Mr. Specter, I – I’m so, so sorry. The ovens here are completely different from the old restaurant I worked at. They’re a lot more powerful than I’m used to, so I set the temperature too high, and well… it exploded. I’m really, truly sorry!! I’m almost done cleaning up, and don’t worry, I’ll pay for the damages.” He gulps.

Harvey takes a deep breath. There are so many threats, insults he wants to hurl at Mike, but the kid looks absolutely floored so he holds it in. All he says is, “You have half an hour to have this mess cleaned up.” And he turns on his heel and heads out the door.

Harvey does damage control as best he can, promising angry customers that food will be out shortly, that they had a small accident but everything is okay. He assures everyone with his charming confidence and natural speaking talent. Fortunately his other chefs aren’t complete morons, so they have food cooking on the remaining ovens and pretty soon, food is being served, the low rumble of conversation starts up again in the restaurant, and his diners look happy. 

After half an hour, he heads back into the kitchen to find it spotless. Well, except for the broken oven and the hole through the ceiling. He blinks, “How did you manage to have that cleaned up so quickly?”

Mike blinks at him, “Well, I thought you said to have it cleaned in half an hour?”

Harvey chuckles a bit, “Yeah, and I thought there was no way you would, so I was going to fire you when you inevitably hadn’t finished cleaning.”

“Mr. Specter, listen, I’m truly very sorry, this was an accident and it won’t happen again. I’m a really hard worker and can school the rest of these douche chefs to become the best chef you’ve ever seen.” 

The kid looks so earnest and apologetic, it softens Harvey’s heart a little. “Fine, you’re not fired. You have one day to impress me with your cooking, or I’m afraid I’ll have to let you go.”

Mike nods furiously.

The rest of the evening goes relatively well, and Harvey returns to his condo just after midnight after he’s finished closing up the restaurant. He’s about to call it a day when he hears a faint knock on his door. It’s quiet, tentative. He frowns. Who could be knocking on his door this late at night?

Harvey wearily pads over to the door and opens it a crack, to find the new kid, Mike, standing on his doorstep holding a take-out box. “What on earth are you doing here? Actually, before you answer that, how the hell did you get my address? Should I file for a police restraint too after I fire you tomorrow?” Harvey meant to sound menacing but he can’t help but quirk his lips up a bit at Mike’s worried face, so his tone comes across more as teasing.

That seems to calm Mike a bit, as he smiles a bit, albeit nervously, “Donna told me where you lived, she said it’d probably be a good idea to come over and apologize, if I wanted to keep my job. And well, you said to impress you, so I brought a little something I cooked after the dinner rush was over tonight.”

“You brought me food… at midnight?” Harvey takes the box from Mike’s hands, and opens it skeptically. There are two burgers in the box. “You cooked me a  _burger_  to  _impress_  me? Kid, do you know what the word impress even means?”

“I do, and I think if you look closely, you’ll find that it’s not just any  _burger_ , it’s a quarter pounder. With cheese. You know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?”

Harvey stares at him, mouth agape.

“A Royale with cheese!” Mike grins.

“Did you just quote Pulp Fiction at me?” Harvey blinks.

“You bet I did!”

Harvey grins then, a broad smile stretching across his features. He opens the door for Mike to step in, and they dig into the burgers. Not only is the burger a movie reference, it’s absolutely delicious. The meat is juicy and done just right, and the cheese melts off his tongue perfectly. “Mmm, not bad, kid.” Harvey says after he swallows the first bite.

“So, does that mean I’m not fired for sure?” Mike asks, a hopeful smile on his lips.

“It means you have another chance to prove me right in hiring you.”

“Just when I thought I was out, you pull me back in.”

Harvey gapes at him again. “You can quote The Godfather too?” 

“What can I say, I’m just that awesome.”

Harvey grins back at Mike then, and they laugh together. The kid’s really starting to grow on him.

They finish their burgers and wind up on Harvey’s couch, watching Star Trek TOS and trying to out-quote each other, because Mike had suggested that Kirk  _wasn’t_  the man, so Harvey needed to prove him wrong. They laugh and joke around and somehow it’s 2 am before either of them knows it. Mike gets up to leave, and it takes all of Harvey’s restraint not to lean in and kiss him then and there. 

“Thanks for this, Harvey. I had a really good time tonight.”

“That’s Mr. Specter to you,” Harvey says, but he’s only joking. “And me too. Thanks for the Royale with cheese.”

Mike grins and their gazes lock, and Harvey’s brain barely register the slow movement of Mike’s hand up toward the back of Harvey’s neck. Harvey shivers a little, and Mike takes that as his cue. He steps up onto his toes and leans in, pressing a soft, chaste kiss to Harvey’s lips. Harvey’s hands wrap around Mike’s hips of their own accord and he deepens the kiss, biting Mike’s lower lip for entrance. Mike lets him in and tilts his head up for a better angle so that the kiss can get even deeper, and their tongues battle in a slow, sensual dance. It’s tentative, slow, and not desperate at all. It’s simply perfect. Harvey groans in the back of his throat when Mike pulls away. They’re both panting hard, and Mike leans his forehead against Harvey’s. “I – I should probably get going. Thanks for everything, Harvey. See you tomorrow.” He smiles shyly up at Harvey, who can’t keep the dumb grin off his face. Mike leans in for one last peck before heading out the door.

Harvey closes the door behind him and sighs. What has he gotten himself into?

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from a quote by Oscar Wilde: "After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations."
> 
> Originally posted on [my tumblr](http://skinnytiesandbluescarves.tumblr.com/post/128189591299/marvey-fic-challenges-challenge-36-kitchen).
> 
> I'm [skinnytiesandbluescarves](http://skinnytiesandbluescarves.tumblr.com) on tumblr, come say hi! I love talking to people (:


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